Wondering about wild grapes

Saturday, August 20, 2016

An Old Western.

I love to watch the old western shows on TV.  You know, the ones that are in black and white.  There are a lot of them, even Gunmoke was on TV in black and white before color took over the TV networks.  Some others that I like are Wagon Train, The Tall Man, Tombstone Territory, Restless Gun, and a lot more.  This all brings me to the one old western show that I am going to talk about, it was called Whispering Smith.

Whispering Smith was a western that starred the WW2 hero turned actor, Audie Murphy.  Do any of you remember that show?  Here are some pictures of that show that may refresh your memory.

      

Yes, I watch that old show GET TV on the Western Channel and really enjoy it.  It was well done and all the actors did a great job.

OK, just in case you didn't know that Audie Murphy was a war hero, here is a picture of him in uniform with some of his medals:


 And of course his medals:



This just goes to show you that looks are deceiving.  This war hero, who may have single handedly killed more enemy soldiers than any other single foot soldier, was not real tall (5'-8").  He was not mean and scary looking, but soft spoken.  But yes, he was the most decorated American combat soldier of that war and received every military combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army.  He also received French and Belgian awards for heroism.

He was only nineteen years old when he single-handedly held off a whole company of German soldiers for an hour, and then led a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition.  Now if that doesn't make a person a hero, nothing will.  Audie didn't live a long life, though.  He passed away at the age of 46, but he sure did pack a lot living in those 46 years.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear? 

21 comments:

  1. I love all the old westerns too, another we love going to the south west every winter almost feels like we are right there where all this took place.

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    1. Yes, I know what you mean. Make sure you wear your cowboy boots and hat. BTW, I live in Texas and Audie was born in Texas.

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  2. I've hiked past the memorial to Audie Murphy (on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia) many times. I think he was in a small plane that crashed. I've often wondered, what makes a boy such as Murphy turn out to be such a hero and do such heroic things.

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    1. Yes, a plane crashed that he was riding in, although, he was also a pilot he was not at the controls. What makes some people do heroic acts? Maybe they see something that needs to be done and they do it regardless of the dangers.

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  3. I think I knew more about Audie Murphy's heroism than I did about his acting career... but folks like Captain Kangaroo and Lee Marvin and Audie Murphy are so much more the kind of people I'd rather see our young folks look up to than some of the sports figures they idealize today.

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    1. Maybe I am old fashioned or something, but I just don't know who could be held up as an example of heroism for our youth now-a-days.

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  4. Audie wrote a book, "To Hell and Back" which I think is on Amazon. I haven't read it, but it got good reviews.

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    1. I read it years ago and loved it. I can't remember much about it. I led a fairly sheltered life and I think I was shocked at some of the language (but it may have been another book, not Audie Murphy's). I also think they made it into a movie, which probably didn't resemble the book at all. (My memory of 55 years ago is fading fast!)

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    2. That would be a book that I would enjoy.

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    3. They say Audie played himself in the movie.

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    1. The older I get the more I can remember stuff from way, way back but can't remember where I just sat my coffee down.

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  6. I had no idea Audie Murphy was an actor, just knew he was a war hero.

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    1. Being a war hero helped get him a start in show-business. I like his TV series, Whispering Smith. They have been showing it on GetTV.

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  7. My favorite black & white western was "Have Gun, Will travel"... Audie Murphy started in the movie "To hell and back", it was good. I didn't know he's written it too.

    This was a great post!

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    1. Thanks for the compliment, Rob. I never saw that movie nor read his book. I will put it on my list of things I should do.

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  8. Hi there. I just found your comment that you left on my blog related to our family cabin in Driftwood, boyhood home of Tom Mix. Hubby is from SW Louisiana. Loves his Westerns. Even though a John Wayne, etc fan.... his favorite is Audie Murphy. Nice blog here.

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    1. Glad you found me Phyllis, hope you are not too disappointed.

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  9. I love all the old Westerns; watch them every chance I get. e was a true American hero.

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    1. I am watching old black and white westerns right now on TV. And yes, he was a true American hero. Too bad he had to die so young in a plane crash.

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